#!/usr/bin/perl -w # # Copyright 2000 by Michael Coyle # Released under GPL. # # Call it with: # [an error occurred while processing this directive] # # Get the file name from the browser... $file_name = $ENV{'QUERY_STRING'}; # Open the file... open (EP, $file_name); # Print to the browser... print "Content-Type: text/html \n\n"; # Load the file and keep spitting it out to the browser... while () { chomp; print "$_ "; } # Close the file and go home... close EP #!/usr/bin/perl -w # # Copyright 2000 by Michael Coyle # Released under GPL. # # Call it with: # [an error occurred while processing this directive] # # Get the file name from the browser... $file_name = $ENV{'QUERY_STRING'}; # Open the file... open (EP, $file_name); # Print to the browser... print "Content-Type: text/html \n\n"; # Load the file and keep spitting it out to the browser... while () { chomp; print "$_ "; } # Close the file and go home... close EP

3D
3D Photo Gallery (Part 1)
3D Photo Gallery (Part 2)

Audio
Poor Man's MIDI
Make A Metronome
iPod Tricks (Part 1)
iPod Tricks (Part 2)
iPod Tricks (Part 3)
Laugh Track Machine
Audio Player with Reverb
Shepard Melody
RB Phone Home
Build a Drum Machine

Custom Controls and Windows
Double Click Listbox
Draggable Metal Window
Double Click Canvas
Custom Buttons
Custom Buttons Part II
iTunes-style Listboxes
Custom Controls


General RB
Scrolling Windows
Using Mesage Dialogs
Case-Sensitive Word Finder
Introduction to Stacks
Wiggle Window
JPEG in PDF
Listbox Checkboxes
Background Applications
Listbox Auto-Find
Virtual Volumes
Time Tracker
Software Distribution (Part 1)
Software Distribution (Part 2)
Software Distribution (Part 3)
Software Distribution (Part 4)
Exceptions
Tips and Tricks
Text Clippings Made Easy

Graphics
Drawing a Simple Gradient
The SpriteSurface: Space Game
Image Spinner
Cropping Graphics (Part 1)
Cropping Graphics (Part 2)
Cropping Graphics (Part 3)
Cropping Graphics (Part 4)
Shimmer Graphics
Lissajous Figures
Simple Screen Capture
Vector Graphics
Kaleidoscope Images
Stegonography
Spirals!
Image Table
RB Magnifying Lens
Screen Capture
Color Picker Tutorial

Hacks
Ghost Grab
Speedy Mouse Extension
iTunes Plugins
iTunes Skinner

Mac OS X
Global Hot Key Event (Carbon Events)
Login Welcomer (Carbon Events)
Add/Remove Buttons
Resizable Sheets
Mac OS X Preferences Window
Using Sheets in REALbasic
Build a Bundle (Part 1)
Build a Bundle (Part 2)
Dock Your Passwords
Mac OS X Debugging
REALbasic Mac OS X Icon Tutorial
Animate Your Dock
RB and the Command Line

Menus
Window Menu
Templates Menu
Listbox Menu

Novelty
Guessing Game
Calendar Trivia
Tile Mixer
Zip Code Finder
Happy Valentine's Day
Merlin Simulator (Part 1)
Merlin Simulator (Part 2)
Merlin Simulator (Part 3)
Buzzword Machine
AppleSoft BASIC

Printing
Print to PDF

Registration
Registration Code Validation
Network Registration Codes

Resources
Picture Extractor (Part 1)
Picture Extractor (Part 2)

Serial
Caller ID (Part 1)
Caller ID (Part 2)
Caller ID (Part 3)

Speech
Speech Recognition

Socket Communication
Easy Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
MacPAD Version Checking
Display Web Image In Canvas
HTML IMG Tags
Version Tracking
Even Smarter Instant Messaging
Web Tiler
JavaScript and REALbasic
Stock Ticker (Part I)
Stock Ticker (Part 2)
AIM Mate

XML Manipulation
Simple XML Introduction

Video
Big Brother Video Capture

Note: All articles without a byline were written by Erick Tejkowski. When cleaning the site I removed them because the code differed from page to page, and I have yet to put them back in.

resexc2.gif (20k)




REALbasic for Dummies
by Erick Tejkowski

$19.99 @ Amazon





Files are in Stuffit 6.5 or earlier, or ZIP format.
Download Stuffit Expander

Tell us about a bad link.

REALbasic Merlin Simulator Part II
01-17-02




Back in the late 1970's, Parker Brothers introduced a great handheld electronic game machine called Merlin. This week we continue with Part 2 of our Merlin Simulator project and begin adding functionality to the simulator.

Interface

If you'd like to start where we left off last week, download the project. Then, launch REALbasic and open Window1. Drag a NotePlayer control from the toolbar and add it to you Window1 interface. It doesn't matter where you drag it to in the interface, since it will be invisible when the application executes. Feel free to adjust the Instrument property. If you leave it set to its default value (1) it will play back as a piano. The remaining instrument numbers are displayed in the Online Reference for the NotePlayer control (press Cmd-1).

01-17_toolbar.jpg (1278bytes)

Add the Code

Before you get started writing any code, open the Code Editor for Window1 and add the following properties (by selecting Edit-New Property):

Property Declaration
CurrentNote as Integer
GameNumber as Integer
NewGame as Boolean
NoteArray(0) as Integer

Close Window1 for now. We will return to it in a second. But, first we need to make some alterations to our custom Canvas classes. Open the NumButtonClass and create two new events, by selecting Edit-New Event.

Event name Parameters: Return Type:
MouseDown x as integer, y as integer  
MouseUp    

Navigate to the MouseDown and MouseUp events of the NumButtonClass and change the code for each to look like the following:

01-10_code1.jpg (33k)

Now that you have the hang of this, open up the UtilButtonClass and do the same, creating two new events, MouseDown and MouseUp like before.

Then, navigate to the MouseDown and MouseUp events of the UtilButtonClass and change the code for each to look like the following:

01-10_code2.jpg (56k)

What we have done here is to give our Window1 controls NumButton and UtilButton the chance to override the default functionality of the class. We will use these new events to respond to actions taken during the game, all from the code of Window1.

Before we jump back to coding the games in Window1, create two new methods in the NumButtonClass by selecting Edit-New Method. Name them as follows:

Add these Methods to NumButton
ButtonOn
ButtonOff

Add the appropriate code to each method:

01-10_code3.jpg (14k)

The custom classes are now complete, so return to the Code Editor of Window1. Create two new methods, by selecting Edit-New Method.

Method Name Parameters:
MusicMachinePlayNote merlinnote as integer, lightson as boolean
MusicMachinePlaySong  

The code for the MusicMachinePlaySong method is:

01-10_code4.jpg (22k)

Since the code for the MusicMachinePlayNote method is so lengthy, I present it to you here in a text box.:

As you may have guessed, these two methods play either a note or a song (which we are storing in the NoteArray). The final step for this week is to add some code to the MouseUp events of the NumButton and UtilButton controls. Open the MouseUp for each and add the appropriate code:

These two methods tie in all the other parts we have worked on so far. The utilButton.MouseUp event sits and waits for you to start a new game. When you do, it sets a flag (newgame = TRUE). Since newgame = TRUE, the number keys respond to a new game inquiry. By pressing the "2" key, a new game called "Music Machine" begins play.

In this game, you are allowed to enter musical notes by pressing the number keys. As you play them, the notes will sound and be remembered by the Merlin Simulator. When you have completed the song, press "COMP TURN" to play the song back. For orientation purposes, the number button all the way at the top of the machine is "0", while the bottom number button is "10". The actual Merlin machine has numbers molded into the plastic adjacent to each button. Our interface is more simplistic. If you have any problems, be sure to review the Merlin manual.

Conclusion

Well, that's it for this week. Select Debug-Run to test your work. If you encounter any difficulties with the code or don't feel like entering it all, you can download the completed project and applications. See you next week!






Please support ResExcellence by Visiting our Sponsors. One click makes a difference.


Download REALbasic and create your own software!

#!/usr/bin/perl -w # # Copyright 2000 by Michael Coyle # Released under GPL. # # Call it with: # [an error occurred while processing this directive] # # Get the file name from the browser... $file_name = $ENV{'QUERY_STRING'}; # Open the file... open (EP, $file_name); # Print to the browser... print "Content-Type: text/html \n\n"; # Load the file and keep spitting it out to the browser... while () { chomp; print "$_ "; } # Close the file and go home... close EP #!/usr/bin/perl -w # # Copyright 2000 by Michael Coyle # Released under GPL. # # Call it with: # [an error occurred while processing this directive] # # Get the file name from the browser... $file_name = $ENV{'QUERY_STRING'}; # Open the file... open (EP, $file_name); # Print to the browser... print "Content-Type: text/html \n\n"; # Load the file and keep spitting it out to the browser... while () { chomp; print "$_ "; } # Close the file and go home... close EP